A communication network includes paths of nodes that route packets through the network. Packets may route through the network on one of many different communication paths. These communication paths may be made up of a number of links between nodes, with each link divided into a number of channels or slots. As required connections are made and then broken, a link may become fragmented. For instance, a first communication demand may require four slots, and then a later demand for three slots, followed by a still later demand for one slot. As these types of communication demands increase over time, it may become increasingly difficult to identify an appropriately contiguous section of slots necessary to handle a given communication demand.
When an optical network becomes excessively fragmented some or all of the optical network may be optimized. However, there remain serious difficulties in determining when such optimization may be appropriate for some or all of the network. Particularly, difficulties remain in determining when some or all of the network has become sufficiently fragmented to warrant optimization.